World War Two

Find old World War 2 articles here. We have great newspaper articles from wwii check them out today!

‘Man on the Street Solidly Approves of War Declaration” (St. Louis Star-Times, 1941)

This report appeared in the evening edition of the St. Louis Star-Times on December 8, 1941 and it serves as an eyewitness account as to how the St. Louisans reacted both during and after listening to the President’s declaration of war broadcast before Congress:

In downtown restaurants and taverns, people paused to listen to the dramatic broadcast from Washington. Work was at a standstill for those minutes in many office buildings and stores. Pedestrians crowded around newsboys to obtain the latest ‘extras’ and along the streets groups could be seen collected about radio-equipped automobiles.

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Sugar Rationing Hits The Candy Industry (Pathfinder Magazine, 1943)

The candy-makers of the nation are not having a such a sweet time of it, for, like most other manufacturers, they are bothered by scarcities of labor and materials and so must cut corners and find substitutes.


The article goes on to point out that the sugar that was available was largely devoted to military personnel (18 pounds a year); as a result of this candy rationing, movie-goers were introduced to popcorn as a substitute (you can read about that here).

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World War II Fabric Rationing in the United States (Yank Magazine, 1945)

This illustrated article appeared in Yank Magazine during March of 1945 and explained fully what fabric rationing was and how the American home front fashion consumer was affected:

The absence of cuffs and vests aside, pre-war styles in men’s clothing are still obtainable. A man can get plaids, stripes, herringbones and all sorts of weaves in brown, blue, gray and all the various pastel shades. …Women generally have had to make great changes in their dressing habits. In the first place the shortage of rubber has raised hell with the girdle, or foundation garment..


Click here to read more about fashion on the W.W. II home front…


Read a 1940s fashion article about fabric restrictions and the War Production Board.

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The Most Dreaded Telegram on the Home Front (Coronet Magazine, 1944)

By the time this historic piece was written, thousands upon thousands of Western Union casualty telegrams had been delivered to altogether too many American households. This article lucidly explains how they should be delivered and how they shouldn’t be delivered. Recognizing the solemnity of the task, the men who passed the news along were often older men, who had tasted some of life’s bitterness:


One mother, receiving the news that her son was dead, crushed the paper in her hand and looking beyond the messenger, said, ‘If it hadn’t been my son, it would have been some other mother’s’.

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Posters For Encouragement (Newsweek Magazine, 1942)

There were many varieties of posters to be found on the American home front of W.W. II – most depicting sweaty barrel-chested young men. Yet in the factories another type was prevalent, these were the ones that showed the non-heroic faces of the average American worker. Below these images would be found simple quotes declaring their unique patriotic reasons for laboring on the production lines. This article recalls who dreamed them up and how popular they were.

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Adultery on the Home Front (Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

The overlords of the Illinois justice system became so fed-up with the growing divorce rate in their state as a result of wives who stepped-out while their husbands were fighting overseas, and they decided to do something about it. The Illinois Attorney General proposed a plan:


Penalties for conviction range from $500 fine or a year in jail or both for the first offense to $3,000 fine or three years in jail or both for a third conviction.

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